Scottish Catholic Observer

Pro-life campaigners have said that they are horrified at MPs’ decision to make Britain the first country in the world to allow three-parent children.

After a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday, MPs voted in favour of amending the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act by 382 votes to 128.

If approved by the House of Lords, it will mean that IVF clinics will be able to replace an egg’s defective mitochondrial DNA with healthy DNA from a female donor, which would result in babies having DNA from three people.

The Catholic Church has led the opposition to the change and Bishop John Keenan of Paisley said: “The proposed techniques fail on a number of ethical grounds which should concern us all.

“They destroy human life, since in order to construct a disease free embryo, two healthy ones will have to be destroyed. The technique is not a treatment, it does not cure anyone or anything, rather it seeks to remove anyone affected by certain conditions from the human gene pool. Destroying those who have a particular disease and presenting it as a cure or as progress is utterly disingenuous and completely unethical.”

The bishop also said he was extremely concerned that no other country in the world has licensed these procedures and that ‘the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) have suggested only that the procedures are ‘not unsafe.’’

“Mitochondrial Donation completely destroys and distorts the natural process of fertility,” Bishop Keenan said. “It is surprising that a society—which increasingly favours and supports natural and environmentally friendly products and services—should countenance the genetic modification of human beings. How can we object when scientists genetically modify plants but not when they do the same with people?”

Dr Calum MacKellar of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics (SCHB) said the whole discussion of this issue has been unbalanced. He said he feared this legislation would be a ‘foot in the door’ to making the UK a hub for germ-line gene therapy,

Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said the vote could open the door to the cloning of humans.

Among those who supported the change in the law were Prime Minister David Cameron and Public Health Minister Jane Ellison.

—[email protected]

—Read the full version of this story in the February 6 edition of the SCO in parishes from Friday.